A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, Andrew Garn spent time as an undergrad photographing Newburgh's unique architecture in the late 1970s. In late 2004, after publishing half a dozen books of photography on everything from subways to houseboats, and shooting on assignment for the New York Times Magazine, Forbes, Newsweek, and other publications, Garn returned to Newburgh to open PhotoNewburgh, a gallery dedicated to photography, at 113 Liberty Street. (Exhibiting at the gallery through June 24, photos by Daniel Goodwin: "The CIA Museum and the Bush Surveillance.")I did a book on Bethlehem Steel in the late 90s, and the history of the plant was so rich—they built the Chrysler building, the George Washington Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge. It wasn't the biggest steel plant, but it was the most diverse. It's sort of a cross between industrial and technological architecture between 1820 and 1970. After that book, I asked myself, well, what do I do now? I wanted to continue documenting industrial sites, so I did some research and found out there's not that much industry left in the Unites States, or grand industrial sites, like Bethlehem Steel. So I looked abroad.
There was an industrial sales conference at the Plaza Hotel where Russian corporations were encouraging Americans to invest in Russia—this was in the boom time of early 2000 when everybody was putting their money into Russia. I sort of snuck in—I wore a business suit—and I got all this information about these Russian companies. So I found these incredible plants, and I wrote to about 10 of them, and I received a number of replies, but the more I found out about Magnitogorsk, the more I was compelled to go there.